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Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the 1955 James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by English/French actor Michael Lonsdale. In both versions of Moonraker, Drax is the main antagonist. Film In the film adaptation, Hugo Drax is a billionaire living in California in a château that was imported from France. He owns Drax Industries, which constructs space shuttles. In addition, Drax supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but apparently couldn't export it from France because they wouldn't issue him an export permit. Drax portrays himself as an accomplished pianist, as evidenced by his recital of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D-flat major (op. 28) on his grand piano (which he plays in the key of D); in fact, he poses with a player piano in an attempt to impress his guests. Bond follows a trail around the world to investigate the theft of a space shuttle that Drax had loaned to the UK. He begins his investigation in California at Drax Industries, and follows it to Italy, then to Brazil, then into space. Drax reveals that he seeks to destroy the entire human race except for a small group of carefully selected humans, both male and female, that would leave Earth on six shuttles and have sanctuary on a space station in orbit over Earth. Using chemical weapons created by Drax's scientists—derived from the toxin of a rare South American plant, the Black Orchid—at an installation in Italy, he would wipe out the remainder of humanity. The biological agents were to be dispersed around the earth from a series of 50 strategically placed globes, each containing enough toxin to kill 100 million people. After a period of time, when the chemical agents had become harmless, Drax and his master race would return to Earth to reinhabit the planet. Bond obtains a sample of the chemical agent at the location in Italy. It leads him to a remote part of Brazil, where he finds Drax's shuttle-launch facility in an ancient civilization's shrine. Bond and his companion, CIA agent Dr. Holly Goodhead, commandeer one of Drax's space shuttles and blast off to his orbiting space station. Bond persuades Drax's henchman Jaws to switch allegiances by getting Drax to reveal that Jaws and his girlfriend Dolly will be exterminated as "inferiors". A team of soldiers sent by the U.S. government invade the shuttle, resulting in a laser battle in which Drax's "master race" are all killed. Bond then corners Drax in the station's airlock, shoots him with a cyanide-tipped dart, and ejects him into space. Henchmen *Jaws *Chang *Tree Sniper *Innumerable foot-soldiers in lemon-yellow spacesuits with black stripes *Italian gangsters in Venice *Flight attendant Novelization In his novelization of the movie, screenwriter Christopher Wood describes Drax as red-haired and with a face scarred and botched by poor plastic surgery (from a time "before he could afford the best in the world"), much as originally envisioned by Fleming. Although Drax's nationality is not specified, Bond idly wonders to himself which side he fought on during World War II. Employees & Henchmen Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) - Profile.jpg|Holly Goodhead Chang (Toshirô Suga) - Profile.jpg|Chang Jaws Profile (2).png|Jaws Samuel.png|Samuel Blonde Beauty.png|Blonde Beauty Museum Guide.jpg|Museum Guide Tree Sniper Profile.png|Tree Assassin La Signorina del Mateo.jpg|La Signorina del Mateo Mademoiselle Deradier.png|Mademoiselle Deradier Countess Labinsky.png|Countess Labinsky Lady Victoria Devon.png|Lady Victoria Devon Cavendish.png|Cavendish Corinne Dufour (1) Profile.png|Corinne Dufour Fraser.png|Fraser Dolly (Blanche Ravalec) - Profile.jpg|Dolly Category:James Bond series Category:Male Characters Category:Moonraker Characters